


The Lucky and the Strong

by scrollgirl



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Community: tww_minis, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-10-01
Updated: 2006-10-01
Packaged: 2017-10-06 22:15:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/58303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scrollgirl/pseuds/scrollgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Josh and Sam get nostalgic over how it used to be between them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Lucky and the Strong

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bluflamingo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluflamingo/gifts).



> Written for [](http://bluflamingo.livejournal.com/profile)[**bluflamingo**](http://bluflamingo.livejournal.com/) for the [Josh Lyman round](http://community.livejournal.com/tww_minis/16715.html) of [](http://community.livejournal.com/tww_minis/profile)[**tww_minis**](http://community.livejournal.com/tww_minis/) ([master list](http://community.livejournal.com/tww_minis/20031.html)). [](http://bluflamingo.livejournal.com/profile)[**bluflamingo**](http://bluflamingo.livejournal.com/) asked for Sam (slash or friendship) or CJ (friendship) and an 80s pop song, green tea, the mural room, and no angst. Well, technically "The Rose" was written in 1979 but I hope you'll forgive that. Also, there may have been a _smidgen_ of angst in this. And schmoop. Um.

Josh came out of his office, bundled up in his heavy overcoat. "It's freezing in here!"

Equally bundled, and with a knitted hat pulled down low over her ears, Donna raised her eyebrows at him from behind a mug of hot tea. "It's freezing everywhere, Josh, in case you haven't noticed. It's January and there's something wrong with the heat."

"You should call down to maintenance and get them to fix it!"

"Well, golly, why didn't _I_ think of that when I made the call to maintenance over an hour ago?" She rolled her eyes and sipped her tea. "They're working on it, it's just going to take a while."

"So until then, we're just supposed to, what? Hibernate?" Josh blew on his hands in a futile attempt to warm them up from the popsicles they'd become. "We're very busy people, Donna, we can't hibernate. We need to be productive."

"Yes, and productivity requires warmth!" pronounced Sam, coming around the corner. The tip of his nose was slightly pink. "What we need is to generate some heat of our own."

Josh grinned at him. "Wow, Sam," he said teasingly. "I never knew you felt the same way about me. But honeybunch, what about our careers?"

"_Fire_, Josh," said Sam, gesturing excitedly. His hands seemed to be miming flowers blossoming, or maybe explosions. "The gift of Prometheus. We can build a fire in the fireplace of the mural room!"

Josh stared, his brain ticking over the idea. "Yes, okay, okay, a fire would be warm. That could work!" He slung an arm around Sam's shoulders. "Lead the way, my good man!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait," Donna exclaimed, throwing herself in their path. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

Sam and Josh glanced at each other, then at the woman standing in the way of manly pyromania. "It's not only a good idea, it's a _genius_ idea," said Josh.

"We've invented the wheel, we've domesticated animals, and we've sent astronauts into space. I think we can handle a little fire," said Sam.

"Oh, my God," said Donna, as the two men swept by.

Josh shouted back at her. "I promise there's absolutely _nothing_ to be worried about!"

* * *

"So much for the gift of Prometheus," Josh sighed dejectedly. The security guards had brought in fire extinguishers and pretty much doused half the mural room with foam, then left with Donna to fill out reports. CJ and Toby had merely shook their heads and gone back to work.

Out of self-preservation, Sam and Josh had closed all the doors to the mural room to prevent gawkers. Not that there was any hope of keeping this quiet. "Leo's gonna kill us. Also," he added, "I've lost all feeling in my extremities."

"It'll be okay, man," said Sam comfortingly, and this time he was the one to drape an arm around his friend's shoulders. "Remember, after the winter comes the spring. Beneath the bitter snow lies a seed."

Josh raised an eyebrow, but didn't move away from Sam's warmth. "Are you quoting Bette Midler?"

Sam ducked his head, embarrassed. "There was a full-page ad in that newspaper for a Bette Midler concert. It got stuck in my head, that's all."

"Right, so if it'd been only a half-page ad, you wouldn't be quoting Bette Midler to me." Grinning, Josh turned a little to better see Sam's face. "Didn't you used to have all her albums?"

Now Sam lifted his chin disdainfully. "All right, clearly the cold is beginning to affect your cognitive functions, because I have no clue what you're talking about." His arm tightened around Josh's shoulders. "Also, Bette Midler didn't write 'The Rose' -- she only sang it. The lyrics were by an artist named Amanda McBroom."

Josh smiled softly, pressing himself ever closer. "Come on, Sam, this is me." He slipped his fingers between the buttons of Sam's overcoat to feel the warmth beneath. "We used to slow-dance to Bette Midler. Remember? 'Some say love, it is a hunger, an endless, aching need.'"

"That was a long time ago, Josh," said Sam, startled, his voice a hush. "We were different people then. We never _talk_ about... then. Where is this coming from?" But he didn't resist when Josh gathered him close, their foreheads touching intimately.

"'I say love, it is a flower, and you its only seed," Josh sang under his breath, punctuating each line with a small kiss to Sam's lips. "'It's the heart, afraid of breaking, that never learns to dance.'"

Sam didn't try to sing, just murmured the words as they swayed in a circle in the damp, smoky, ruined room of the White House. "'It's the dream, afraid of waking, that never takes a chance. It's the one who won't be taken, who cannot seem to give.'"

"Did I ever tell you how sorry I was?" asked Josh, looking sorrowful in the way only Josh could ever look. "How much I wished we could've made it work?"

Sam shook his head, protesting. "Josh, no. That's not even -- we were meant to be here, Josh." He gestured at the world around them, then laid his hand against Josh's cheek. "We were meant to do this. And we couldn't -- we can't have everything. You are my best friend, and I love you, and I almost lost you."

"I'm sorry for scaring you," Josh whispered. "I'm sorry I'm such a mess --"

Sam closed his eyes against his fear. "You have nothing to apologise for, Josh, _nothing_," he said fiercely. "_I'm_ sorry for not seeing how badly you needed help." His hand slid behind Josh's neck and into his hair. "Thank God for Donna."

"Um. You're welcome?"

Josh and Sam sprang apart at the sound of her voice. "Donna!" Josh stuttered, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his overcoat. "Didn't see you there."

She stood at the door with two styrofoam cups of some kind of steaming beverage. "I brought you guys tea. It's green tea, because I figured you didn't need any more caffeine at one o'clock in the morning." She took a tentative step forward, a cup in each hand. "I... probably should have knocked first." She threw a questioning look between the two men.

Sam recovered first. "Thank you, Donna. That's very thoughtful of you," he said, forcing a smile to his face as he accepted the tea.

"Yeah, thanks." Josh couldn't quite meet Donna's eyes, so he held the cup near his face to inhale the clean and fragrant scent and to let the steam blur his vision.

"No problem, and I'm not even going to say 'I told you', though clearly I was right and you were wrong and I'd be entirely justified in saying so." Her voice was teasing, but her eyes were kind and she didn't push for details. "CJ's still working on seating, so if you guys want to come by later --"

"We'll be there in a minute," said Josh, waving her out of the room. Donna closed the door behind her, leaving them alone again. "Sam --"

"We can't let ourselves get dragged down by 'what ifs', Josh." Sam used the pad of his thumb to brush the tea's mist from beneath Josh's eyes. "I never regretted what we had, but that was then and this is now."

"Maybe that's true." Josh leaned close one more time and kissed Sam, gently and full of feeling. "But it doesn't mean I don't miss you," he said quietly, against Sam's lips.

Pulling back, he had to look away, and caught sight of the room. "Oh man, Leo is going to _murder_ me," he groaned, appalled by the extent of the damage.

Sam snorted. "Yeah, well, at least it'd be a quick death." There really was a lot of foam everywhere. "I have a feeling the president is going to be a hell of a lot more creative with _his_ punishment." He draped an arm around Josh and steered him back to work.


End file.
